The NATO phonetic alphabet
Created | Updated Feb 20, 2006
In its currant state, the NATO phonetic alphabet stands as it is shown below.
A-Alpha
B-Bravo
C-Charlie
D-Delta
E-Echo
F-Foxtrot
G-Golf
H-Hotel
I-India
J-Juliet
K-Kilo
L-Lima
M-Mike
N-November
O-Oscar
P-Papa
Q-Quebec
R-Romeo
S-Sierra
T-Tango
U-Uniform
V-Victor
W-Whiskey
X- X-ray
Y-Yankee
Z-Zulu
0-Zero
1-Wun
2-Two
3-Tree
4-Fower
5-Fife
6-Six
7-Sevan
8-Ait
9-Niner
But, over time, the Phonetic Alphabet has evolved. The phonetic alphabet is a system created by the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies in the 1950’s that would be intelligible and pronounceable to all NATO allies in the heat of battle. It has another name, the radiotelephony spelling alphabet. It requires words to be spelt out by their letters; for example, arm becomes Alpha Romeo Mike, and south becomes Sierra Oscar Uniform Tango Hotel. All the letters sound different, so there is no confusion over long distances over what people are saying. The reason that any phonetic alphabet is, or was, used was to stop confusion is because telephone, radio and walkie-talkie communications had the habit of crackling over long distances, blotting out whole words or even sentences. The normal alphabet cannot be used, because some letters, for example P, B, C and D sound similar, and over long distances were indistinguishable, so a new method had to be found. When the code was invented it was also considered that consonants are the most difficult to hear against a noisy background. Hence the sequence of vowels in the phonetic code played an important role when the code was invented, so that when you hear a noisy "-oo-oo" you know the letter is a Z. The vowel-sequence thing works for most (though not all) combinations of letters. All of the words are recognizable by native English speakers because English must be used upon request for communication between an aircraft and a control tower whenever two nations are involved, regardless of their native languages. But it is only required internationally, not domestically, thus if both parties to a radio conversation are from the same country, then another phonetic alphabet of that nation's choice may be used.
The NATO Phonetic Alphabet is not the only Phonetic Alphabet in use, but it definitely is the one used by the most people and countries. From humble beginnings as only being for the NATO allies, it has spread, becoming used in a huge variety of every-day things. It is used widely in telecommunications and business, as well as being used for call signs for hikers going through areas of bush or forest, and being the internationally recognized way of communicating at sea and by air, so you can get what you are saying through wherever you are in the world. Phonetic alphabets are very helpful therefore for communicating information.
Before the acceptance of the International Phonetic Alphabet, the British already had their own version. It was as follows:
A-Abel
B-Baker
C-Charlie
D-Dog
E-Easy
F-Fox
G-George
H-How (or Howie
I-Item
J-Jig
K-King
L-Love
M-Mike
N-Nan
O-Oboe
P-Peter
Q-Queen
R-Roger
S-Sugar
T-Tare
U-Uncle
V-Victor
W-William
X- X-Ray
Y-Yoke
Z-Zebra
The one used by the Royal Air Force during WWII, and which is used in war films especially those based in the era, was as follows:
A-Apple
B-Beer
C-Charlie
D-Dog
E-Edward
F-Freddy
G-George
H-Harry
I-In (or Indigo)
J-Johnny (sometimes Jug)
K-King
L-Love
M-Mother
N-Nuts
O-Orange
P-Peter
Q-Queen
R-Roger (or Robert)
S-Sugar
T-Tommy
U-Uncle
V-Vic (or Victor)
W-William
X- X-Ray
Y-Yorker (sometimes Yoke)
Z-Zebra
After the war, because many of the pilots and engineers had been taken from commercial flights, the Phonetic Alphabet became commonly used in civilian communications. But as many sounds were unique to English, different countries started making their own. For example, an alternative "Ana Brazil" alphabet was used in Latin America. But the International Air Transport Association (IATA), recognizing the need for a single universal alphabet, presented a draft alphabet to the ICAO in 1947. It had sounds common to English, French, and Spanish, and after further study and modification by each approving body, the revised alphabet was implemented November 1, 1951, and is as follows:
A-Alfa
B-Bravo
C-Coca
D-Delta
E-Echo
F-Foxtrot
G-Golf
H-Hotel
I-India
J-Juliett
K-Kilo
L-Lima
M-Metro
N-Nectar
O-Oscar
P-Papa
Q-Quebec
R-Romeo
S-Sierra
T-Tango
U-Union
V-Victor
W-Whisky
X-eXtra
Y-Yankee
Z-Zulu
Immediately, problems were found with this version. Some users felt that the list was so hard to follow that they reverted to the old "able baker" alphabet. To identify the deficiencies of the new alphabet, testing was conducted among speakers from 31 nations, mainly by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States. Confusion among words like Delta, Nectar, Victor, and Extra, or omission of other words under poor receiving conditions were subsequently found to be the main problems. After much study, only the five words representing the letters C, M, N, U, and X were replaced. The final version, shown at the top, was implemented on March 1, 1956, and was adopted shortly thereafter by the International Telecommunications Union, or ITU. Because the ITU governs all international radio communications, all radio operators also adopted it, whether military, civilian, or amateur.In the official international version of the alphabet, the non-English spellings Alfa and Juliett are found. Alfa is spelled with an f for the benefit of native Spanish speakers because they will pronounce ph as if it were a p with a silent h—the English word alpha is alfa in Spanish. Juliett is spelled with a tt for the benefit of native French speakers because they will treat a single t as silent—the English word Juliet is Juliette in French, but the International Civil Aviation Organisation, or ICAO, did not adopt the final 'e' because it might be misunderstood by native Spanish speakers as indicative of a final syllable tuh.
At some United States airports, the use of 'Delta' avoided because it is also the call sign for Delta Air Lines. 'Dixie' seems to be the most common substitute. 'Foxtrot' may be abbreviated as 'Fox' at United States airports. In British police work the use of 'India' has been replaced by 'Indigo'. Sometimes, in the Philippines, the word 'Hawk' is used for the letter H rather than 'Hotel'. In Indonesia, the word 'Lima' is seldom used since the word 'lima' means number five (5) in Bahasa Indonesia. Instead, 'London' is most often used. Many unofficial phonetic alphabets are in use that are not based on a standard, but are based on words the transmitter can easily remember. Often, such ad-hoc phonetic alphabets are based on (mostly) men's names, such as Alan, Bobby, Charlie, David, Edward, Frederick, George, Howard, Isaac, James, Kevin, Larry, Michael, Nicholas, Oscar, Peter, Quincy, Robert, Stephen, Trevor, Ulysses, Vincent, William, Xavier, Yaakov, Zebedee, or on a mixture of names and other easily recognizable (and locally understandable) proper nouns such as U.S. states, local cities and towns, etc.
Links
NATO official home page: http://www.nato.int/
International Civil Aviation Authority: http://www.icao.int/
Internation Air Transport Authority: http://www.iata.org/index.htm
International Telecommunications Union: http://www.itu.int/home/
Other phonetic alphabets and older versions: http://morsecode.scphillips.com/alphabet.html
Any other links to go here would be appreciated.
A-Alpha
B-Bravo
C-Charlie
D-Delta
E-Echo
F-Foxtrot
G-Golf
H-Hotel
I-India
J-Juliet
K-Kilo
L-Lima
M-Mike
N-November
O-Oscar
P-Papa
Q-Quebec
R-Romeo
S-Sierra
T-Tango
U-Uniform
V-Victor
W-Whiskey
X- X-ray
Y-Yankee
Z-Zulu
0-Zero
1-Wun
2-Two
3-Tree
4-Fower
5-Fife
6-Six
7-Sevan
8-Ait
9-Niner
But, over time, the Phonetic Alphabet has evolved. The phonetic alphabet is a system created by the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies in the 1950’s that would be intelligible and pronounceable to all NATO allies in the heat of battle. It has another name, the radiotelephony spelling alphabet. It requires words to be spelt out by their letters; for example, arm becomes Alpha Romeo Mike, and south becomes Sierra Oscar Uniform Tango Hotel. All the letters sound different, so there is no confusion over long distances over what people are saying. The reason that any phonetic alphabet is, or was, used was to stop confusion is because telephone, radio and walkie-talkie communications had the habit of crackling over long distances, blotting out whole words or even sentences. The normal alphabet cannot be used, because some letters, for example P, B, C and D sound similar, and over long distances were indistinguishable, so a new method had to be found. When the code was invented it was also considered that consonants are the most difficult to hear against a noisy background. Hence the sequence of vowels in the phonetic code played an important role when the code was invented, so that when you hear a noisy "-oo-oo" you know the letter is a Z. The vowel-sequence thing works for most (though not all) combinations of letters. All of the words are recognizable by native English speakers because English must be used upon request for communication between an aircraft and a control tower whenever two nations are involved, regardless of their native languages. But it is only required internationally, not domestically, thus if both parties to a radio conversation are from the same country, then another phonetic alphabet of that nation's choice may be used.
The NATO Phonetic Alphabet is not the only Phonetic Alphabet in use, but it definitely is the one used by the most people and countries. From humble beginnings as only being for the NATO allies, it has spread, becoming used in a huge variety of every-day things. It is used widely in telecommunications and business, as well as being used for call signs for hikers going through areas of bush or forest, and being the internationally recognized way of communicating at sea and by air, so you can get what you are saying through wherever you are in the world. Phonetic alphabets are very helpful therefore for communicating information.
Before the acceptance of the International Phonetic Alphabet, the British already had their own version. It was as follows:
A-Abel
B-Baker
C-Charlie
D-Dog
E-Easy
F-Fox
G-George
H-How (or Howie
I-Item
J-Jig
K-King
L-Love
M-Mike
N-Nan
O-Oboe
P-Peter
Q-Queen
R-Roger
S-Sugar
T-Tare
U-Uncle
V-Victor
W-William
X- X-Ray
Y-Yoke
Z-Zebra
The one used by the Royal Air Force during WWII, and which is used in war films especially those based in the era, was as follows:
A-Apple
B-Beer
C-Charlie
D-Dog
E-Edward
F-Freddy
G-George
H-Harry
I-In (or Indigo)
J-Johnny (sometimes Jug)
K-King
L-Love
M-Mother
N-Nuts
O-Orange
P-Peter
Q-Queen
R-Roger (or Robert)
S-Sugar
T-Tommy
U-Uncle
V-Vic (or Victor)
W-William
X- X-Ray
Y-Yorker (sometimes Yoke)
Z-Zebra
After the war, because many of the pilots and engineers had been taken from commercial flights, the Phonetic Alphabet became commonly used in civilian communications. But as many sounds were unique to English, different countries started making their own. For example, an alternative "Ana Brazil" alphabet was used in Latin America. But the International Air Transport Association (IATA), recognizing the need for a single universal alphabet, presented a draft alphabet to the ICAO in 1947. It had sounds common to English, French, and Spanish, and after further study and modification by each approving body, the revised alphabet was implemented November 1, 1951, and is as follows:
A-Alfa
B-Bravo
C-Coca
D-Delta
E-Echo
F-Foxtrot
G-Golf
H-Hotel
I-India
J-Juliett
K-Kilo
L-Lima
M-Metro
N-Nectar
O-Oscar
P-Papa
Q-Quebec
R-Romeo
S-Sierra
T-Tango
U-Union
V-Victor
W-Whisky
X-eXtra
Y-Yankee
Z-Zulu
Immediately, problems were found with this version. Some users felt that the list was so hard to follow that they reverted to the old "able baker" alphabet. To identify the deficiencies of the new alphabet, testing was conducted among speakers from 31 nations, mainly by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States. Confusion among words like Delta, Nectar, Victor, and Extra, or omission of other words under poor receiving conditions were subsequently found to be the main problems. After much study, only the five words representing the letters C, M, N, U, and X were replaced. The final version, shown at the top, was implemented on March 1, 1956, and was adopted shortly thereafter by the International Telecommunications Union, or ITU. Because the ITU governs all international radio communications, all radio operators also adopted it, whether military, civilian, or amateur.In the official international version of the alphabet, the non-English spellings Alfa and Juliett are found. Alfa is spelled with an f for the benefit of native Spanish speakers because they will pronounce ph as if it were a p with a silent h—the English word alpha is alfa in Spanish. Juliett is spelled with a tt for the benefit of native French speakers because they will treat a single t as silent—the English word Juliet is Juliette in French, but the International Civil Aviation Organisation, or ICAO, did not adopt the final 'e' because it might be misunderstood by native Spanish speakers as indicative of a final syllable tuh.
At some United States airports, the use of 'Delta' avoided because it is also the call sign for Delta Air Lines. 'Dixie' seems to be the most common substitute. 'Foxtrot' may be abbreviated as 'Fox' at United States airports. In British police work the use of 'India' has been replaced by 'Indigo'. Sometimes, in the Philippines, the word 'Hawk' is used for the letter H rather than 'Hotel'. In Indonesia, the word 'Lima' is seldom used since the word 'lima' means number five (5) in Bahasa Indonesia. Instead, 'London' is most often used. Many unofficial phonetic alphabets are in use that are not based on a standard, but are based on words the transmitter can easily remember. Often, such ad-hoc phonetic alphabets are based on (mostly) men's names, such as Alan, Bobby, Charlie, David, Edward, Frederick, George, Howard, Isaac, James, Kevin, Larry, Michael, Nicholas, Oscar, Peter, Quincy, Robert, Stephen, Trevor, Ulysses, Vincent, William, Xavier, Yaakov, Zebedee, or on a mixture of names and other easily recognizable (and locally understandable) proper nouns such as U.S. states, local cities and towns, etc.
Links
NATO official home page: http://www.nato.int/
International Civil Aviation Authority: http://www.icao.int/
Internation Air Transport Authority: http://www.iata.org/index.htm
International Telecommunications Union: http://www.itu.int/home/
Other phonetic alphabets and older versions: http://morsecode.scphillips.com/alphabet.html
Any other links to go here would be appreciated.
